Woman Tried To Use 911 As Taxi Service

Police in one Connecticut city have a warning for nightclub patrons: Don’t call 911 for a ride home.

New Haven police say that’s what 28-year-old Quandria Bailey did, calling the emergency line six times to request a ride from a nightclub back to her Meriden home.

Bailey was charged with six counts of misuse of the 911 system early Sunday. She was released on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court May 5.

A telephone number for Bailey could not immediately be located Sunday and it was unclear whether she had an attorney.

Driver Arrested Doing 5 MPH In A 40 MPH Zone

A 39-year-old driver was pulled over in Farmington, CT this weekend where police said he was doing 5 mph in a 40 mph zone.

Police said Isreal Nieves of Bloomfield had the drug PCP in the car and a 9-year-old passenger. He was charged with driving under the influence, possession of narcotics, risk of injury to a minor, driving at a dangerously slow speed and driving without a license.

He was being held in lieu of a $10,000 bond and was expected to appear in court. It could not immediately be determined if he has a lawyer.

Turkish Singer Sets Blind Speed Record In Ferrari

Turkish pop-singer Metin Senturk became the world’s fastest unaccompanied blind driver and said he felt he had danced with death.

Senturk wept as he emerged from a Ferrari F430 at Urfa airport in eastern Turkey to learn from Guinness World Records officials his average speed of 292.89 kph broke the previous record of 284 kph, held by a British bank manager.

“I don’t think there are any words to describe this feeling. I am really happy. It was really hard, like a dance with death,” said Senturk, who has been blind since the age of three.

Following Senturk in a separate vehicle was former rally driver Volkan Isik, who guided the blind man by radio.

Woman Crashes Into Salon And Gets Her Hair Done

An 82-year-old woman who accidentally crashed her car through the front window of a southwest Michigan salon stuck around afterward for an appointment to get her hair done.

Authorities said Marion Zock was parking her Ford Fusion outside Classic Hair Design in Kent County’s Plainfield Township, near Grand Rapids, when she stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake.

Two people were injured, including an employee who returned to work after treatment and a girl with a bruised arm.

Zock told WOOD-TV her foot slipped from the brake. She’s a regular customer and says she was “so embarrassed.”

Stylist Kristi Dochod told WWMT-TV the crash sounded like an explosion. The salon stayed open as the car was removed, and is open during repairs.

Carjackers Foiled By Manual Transmission

Police in eastern Pennsylvania said two men tried to rob and carjack a pizza delivery driver but were defeated by the vehicle’s standard transmission.

Fountain Hill police said the Domino’s Pizza driver had stopped at a red light early Friday when a man ran up to the vehicle from the rear and grabbed her by the throat and shirt. He demanded money while a second man tried to open the passenger door.

Police said the driver reported that the men fled after making a reference to the manual transmission. Investigators did not say whether they escaped with any money from the driver.

Drunk Man Steals Ambulance

San Diego police said a man just out of the hospital for intoxication stole an ambulance and fled from police before they stopped him with spike strips.

Police said 52-year-old Paul John Sos was arrested Saturday on suspicion of auto theft, failure to yield to police and felony drunk driving.

Police Sgt. Ray Battrick said Sos had been found drunk and taken to Sharp Hospital in a private ambulance. Battrick said Sos checked himself out Saturday morning then found an unattended fire department ambulance with keys in the ignition.

The ambulance had GPS installed and police quickly found it, but Sos refused to stop, leading a slow pursuit through residential streets before he was stopped with spike strips and arrested.

Police did not know if he had hired an attorney.

3-Year-Old Drives Away In Moms Buick

A toddler in Oshkosh, Wisconsin is OK after taking his mother’s car out for short spin down the block.

Police said the mother of the 3-year-old boy told officers her son was asleep in the 1985 Buick sedan when she left it running and ran into the house for a moment.

When she returned, the car was gone. Police say the boy knelt on the seat, pulled down on the gear shift lever and started to roll down the block.

The car had traveled nearly two blocks before an officer was able to stop the vehicle.

Car With Obama/Biden Sticker Rammed In Tennessee

A 70-year-old Nashville man was accused of ramming his sport utility vehicle several times into the back of a vehicle that had a Obama/Biden bumper sticker.

Harry K. Weisiger, a retiree, made obscene gestures and pointed at the campaign sticker for President Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden before he smashed into schoolteacher Mark Duren’s car, police said. Weisiger has been charged with reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of the accident and refusing to take a field sobriety test.

The incident appears to be among the overheated partisan political atmosphere, including death threats sent to members of Congress and their families who supported health care reform.

Duren had picked up his 10-year-old daughter from school Thursday when he stopped near the Belmont University campus. An SUV pulled up behind his Toyota Camry and the driver began honking and gesturing angrily toward the bumper sticker, The Tennessean reported.

“I raised my hands palms up and shrugged. He then eased up behind my car so I could only see the grille of his SUV and blew his car horn, nonstop,” Duren told the newspaper.

Those Copycat Chinese Automakers

With the news that Geely is buying Volvo, let’s take a look at some of the more popular Chinese ‘designed’ cars – notice the overall lack or originality.  Wonder if they actually have any copyright laws in The People’s Republic:

Which is the Vauxhall Frontera and which is the Landwind?

Which is the Mercedes C and which is the Geely Merrie 300?

Geely to Buy Volvo From Ford

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group signed a binding deal Sunday to buy Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo Cars unit for $1.8 billion, representing a coup for the independent Chinese automaker which is aiming to expand in Europe.

The purchase gives Geely a European luxury car brand with a reputation for safety and quality at a time when China, which last year surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest car market, is eager to improve its competitiveness by acquiring foreign automotive brands that might help it improve its technology and expand into overseas markets.

The price, which includes a $200 million note with the remainder to be paid out in cash, is far less than the $6.45 billion Ford paid for the Swedish automaker in 1999. The U.S. automaker has been trying to sell Volvo since late 2008 to focus its resources on managing its core Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands.

“We think it’s a fair price for a good business, and yes, we’re happy with the deal we’ve achieved with Geely,” said Ford Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth on Sunday at a news conference at Volvo Cars headquarters in Goteborg, on Sweden’s west coast. Booth added that his company believes that, under Geely, “Volvo can continue to build its business and return to profitability.”

The agreement was signed by Booth and Geely’s chairman, Li Shufu, and witnessed by Li Yizhong, the Chinese minister of industry and information technology, as well as Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Energy Maud Olofsson.